Darren Bent has hit back at claims from former boss Paul Clement that the striker was “lazy and overweight” during his time at Derby County.

Clement made the comments following Bent’s appearance on Sky Sports on Friday night, where he was a pundit for Derby’s Championship opener at Reading.

During the pre-match build-up, Bent was critical of Clement's stint as Rams head coach in 2015-16.

“He came to Derby and I know a lot of people, when he got the sack when we were fifth, couldn’t believe why they sacked him,” said Bent.

“But us as players in the dressing room knew it was inevitable that it was going to crumble.

“Training had changed, the intensity had changed, his philosophies that he had brought in at the start of the season and in pre-season started going out of the window, because we weren’t getting the right results.

“Ultimately, he didn’t really like confrontation, so when certain players who were not in the team were going to see him, they weren’t really getting answers.”